The new minor maximizes the research and teaching already in progress across theCollege of Liberal Arts and Purdue as a whole, says Klein-Pejsova, director of Purdue’sHuman Rights Program and associate professor of history and Jewish studies.Preparing Leaders“The Human Rights minor helps students connect to other people, places, and times,” she says.

“Students cultivate a deeper understanding of a human rights narrative that belongs to the world,its politics and ideas, and our own humanity. In doing so, it promotes and redefines the impactof a liberal arts education.”Yeomans is thrilled with response to the program so far (almost 30 students have registeredas minors in the first two semesters), and he sees the program uniting faculty working acrosscampus on human rights. Students who earn the minor will have an advantage as they pursuecareers in politics, law, government, economics, and a variety of other fields – including theacademic study of human rights.

“A background in Human Rights Studies will significantly help them get that NationalScience Foundation grant, break into a career in international, agricultural, and sustainabledevelopment, get that internship, be accepted into the graduate school or the law school of theirchoice,” Klein-Pejsova says. “The Human Rights minor—and the Human Rights ProgramEven though Purdue faculty offer a wealth of courses that touch on key issues of health inthe humanities, there was no undergraduate focus for students studying the role of healthand medicine in society.

Wendy Kline saw this gap and applied for Innovate funding to launch the MedicalHumanities certificate in fall of 2016. It provides students with an understanding of howhuman experience, medical practice, and scientific technology intersect, especially throughsocietal and cultural contexts.“In our world, where advances in science and technology often outpace our ability tounderstand and cope with new concepts and situations, the need for deep grounding in medicalhumanities is particularly acute for new graduates,” says Kline, the Dema G. Seelye Chair in theHistory of Medicine in the Department of History.Kline visited peer institutions, including New York University, Columbia, Boston College,Yale, and the University of Cincinnati, to learn best-practices for the program. The certificatecan benefit students in any discipline related to health, medicine, social sciences and liberalarts, she says.“Purdue graduates who go on to take leading roles in the fields of medicine, engineering,science, and public policy should demonstrate an understanding of and an appreciation for thecultural and historic dimensions of their disciplines,” she says. “This is particularly true whenit comes to disease, medicine, and health.”

Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts, another
new 15-credit certificate program, offers a
coherent program for students from all Purdue
majors to fulfill many of their general education
requirements as part of the core curriculum.

“I am very excited about the opportunityCornerstone offers to enhance the educationalexperience of all Purdue students,” says DavidA. Reingold, Justin S. Morrill Dean of LiberalArts. “The liberal arts can be a defining featureof what sets apart Purdue STEM graduates andreinforces the centrality of the liberal arts to acomprehensive university education. In this way,Cornerstone will be an important component ofthe Purdue experience.”Through the lens of the humanities andsocial sciences, the Cornerstone program willintroduce students to transformative texts thathave influenced our understanding of the modernworld and will prepare students to communicatemore effectively. The program will instill adeep understanding of the dynamic humanrelationships and the global, social, and culturaldimensions that impact the worlds of engineering,technology, science, medicine, business, andpublic policy.

By completing the Cornerstone certificate,
students will be better positioned to respond
to the changing demands of the world and
marketplace to rise to the top of their fields
as innovative and transformative leaders.
Cornerstone will enhance a Purdue education that
pushes all students intellectually and challenges
them to be independent thinkers who drive
decision making as bold, visionary leaders and
engaged members of society.